TUCSON — Think fast, what do the Cochise College baseball team and the NBA’s Houston Rockets have in common?
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The Apaches won their 13th game in a row after they beat a nationally-ranked opponent for the first time in two attempts this season. The Rockets extended their streak to 20 straight wins.
Cochise beat New Mexico Junior College for the fourth time in the last five matchups, winning 5-2.
Jorge Martinez took a no-hitter into the fifth inning to earn the win over the Thunderbirds. The sophomore right-hander allowed an earned run, two hits and he struck out two.
Calen Pennington finished the final 1 1/3 innings to earn his third save this season.
David Bustillos and Chris Juarez both had two hits. Bustillos had two RBI, Juarez had one.
On Jan. 25 in Las Vegas, the Apaches beat the Community College of Southern Nevada 5-4, a team that was ranked No. 1 in www.perfectgame.org’s preseason poll. Cochise lost just 2-1 to Southern Nevada the next day in a tournament.
The victory came in the Triple Crown Tournament at Kino Sports Complex, the spring training home of the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Chicago White Sox.
The Apaches also beat Sauk Valley Community College (Ill.) in the first game, 4-1. Every game in the four-day tournament is seven innings.
“We’re just trying to get better every time,” Cochise College head coach Todd Inglehart said. “In our conference, it (beating ranked teams) is not that big a deal.”
The Apaches continue play at 12:30 p.m. today at Pima Community College against New Mexico Military Institute.
“In this tournament, it’s kind of tough offensively,” Inglehart said. “The yards are a little bigger than normal, it’s more conducive to these kinds of scores.”
In the first game, Cochise starting pitcher Brandon Orr stayed perfect with a 6-0 record in a complete-game win. Orr allowed six hits and struck out four.
The Apaches scored all four runs with no one on base and two outs in the third inning. Kirk Ehrhart hit a two-run double. Michael Onwumere scored a run in the inning.
On March 2 in the www.perfectgame.org junior college baseball top 25 national poll, New Mexico JC was ranked No. 8 and it was No. 14 in the National Junior College Athletic Association preseason poll, which will be updated on March 19. Unlike the NJCAA poll, of which no California community colleges are a part of, perfectgame.org factors the California teams in. There were six teams in the top 25 from the state, led by Riverside Community College at No. 2. Walters State (Tenn.) is the top-ranked team.
Cochise (23-4 overall), winners of 20 out of its last 21 games, was ranked No. 25, when it had a 15-4 record.
Yavapai College, who was ranked No. 10, is the only other team from Arizona in the poll.
Central Arizona College (13-8), ranked No. 1 in the NJCAA’s preseason baseball poll, was dropped out of the perfectgame.org poll.
After winning each of their last six games in the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference, the Apaches continue conference play on Tuesday at Cochise College in Douglas, in a doubleheader against Central Arizona out of Coolidge. The first game is at Noon, the second is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m., or 30 minutes after the first game ends.





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